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Monday, May 12, 2008

The Meck Report: Huckabee challenges community to invest in children - The Dothan Progress - May 8, 2008

THE DOTHAN PROGRESS - Thursday - May 8, 2008

Huckabee challenges community to invest in children

By Elaine Brackin

Progress Managing Editor

The Wiregrass Children’s Home provides a safe haven for children who have been abandoned, neglected or abused. The facility, and those like it, wouldn’t be needed if this was a perfect world. But, says Mike Huckabee, the world is far from perfect, and facilities like the WCH are needed.

“The Wiregrass Children’s Home wouldn’t exist if every child grew up in a home with loving parents,” said Huckabee as he addressed those attending a benefit for the Wiregrass Children’s Home this past Thursday night in the DothanConvention Center. “It won’t go out of business. We live in a broken world.”

Huckabee, who made an un-successful bid to gain the Republican Party’s nomination for president, came to Dothan at the invitation of Mike and Sandy Schmitz. He also came because children, and especially their welfare, are matters dear to his heart.

“I’m a pro-life person,” Huckabee said. “I’m against abortion. But, more than that, I am pro life. We are endowed by our Creator. He elevated us. We are not worth more or less than anyone else.”

Drawing from the code of the U.S. military, which does not allow for fallen comrades to be left behind on the battlefield, Huckabee says that is the way the majority of citizens of this nation look at life.

“We don’t value people based on their function,” the former Arkansas governor said. “We say life has purpose, value and meaning because of who he is - one of us. We value and elevate every human life. I’m proud we’re that type of country.

“Life has value from the time it is conceived. Value doesn’t end at birth. We value, honor and celebrate a child’s worth.”

Unfortunately, Huckabee noted, not every parent places great value on a child’s life.

“Some parents in Dothan have decided a kid doesn’t have value,” Huckabee said. “At the Wiregrass Children’s Home, kids have value. It’s really important to have a net for kids to fall into.”

Huckabee added that a community will get involved in the life of child - either through education or incarceration.

“Lower taxes and less government are directly tied to the level of a society having social fabric,” Huckabee said.

He illustrated his point by creating two mythical towns - HuckTown and Meckville. The first was characterized by its citizens living responsibly. It was a “good” town, Huckabee noted. In the second, Huckabee stated there were major problems.

“In Meckville, the social fabric has broken down,” Huckabee said. “Because of a few, we regulate everybody.

“This same idea applies to the Wiregrass Children’s Home. The more children get a chance in life and know they are loved, the less likely they are to cost you money. A bed at the Wiregrass Children’s Home is less than that of a jail bed.”

“One year in prison will cost more than putting someone through a four-year college or university,” Huckabee continued. “Taxpayers fund those jail beds. Which do you think is the better investment? It’s an economic issue. It is less expensive to invest in a child now than when they become incarcerated (as juveniles or adults).”

To emphasize the importance of investing in a child’s life, Gov. Huckabee shared the story of a visit his family made to Israel several years ago. He took his wife, Janet, and their three children, John Mark, David and Sarah, to the Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, in Jerusalem. At the end of the visit, Huckabee noted that the memorial had a guest book. His daughter was 12 at the time of the visit. He stood behind her, anxious to see what she would write in the guest book. What he saw left a mark on his heart.